Wednesday

goats, chickens, and cows

the power is back! internet and cable are still out, but we once again have food in the fridge:)

this was the post i was working on last friday when the storm hit...

as we've learned more about the general unpleasantness surrounding conventional chickens and eggs, we've tossed around the idea of raising a few chickens. jim got some books out of the library, did some online research, and drew up some plans for a coop. he submitted a proposal to the camp board for permission (since we don't own our home), and they green-lighted it, so we may be raising laying chickens before long. well, once we get the yard cleaned up of all the felled trees!

on sunday we visited the farm belonging to a family from our church. they had sheep and a wonderful chicken coop, and they are actually going to sell us a few birds.

the next day we visited on the pond farm, and dylan got to play with their baby goats and even gather fresh eggs. later that afternoon, she and jim visited another family with chickens, (where she got to hold one!), and we rounded out our day at a local dairy with a gallon of delicious fresh milk.

jim has been hard at work on our garden, and what were four beds last year are now nine! (our neighbors will cultivate two of them.) the storm destroyed a number of seedings that were sunning on the deck, but some of the tomatoes held on. i hope last year's tomato blight is history and we get a nice yield this summer.

on a completely different note, i've been on the look-out for a radio flyer tricycle and one of those outdoor playhouses for dylan. if anyone local knows of someone looking to sell or giveaway of of those two things, we would love to scoop up something secondhand!

good luck with the chickies! :)Planting basil with your tomatoes can help with keeping tomato diseases at bay. Also in terms of blight, make sure you don't water the leaves when watering, just the roots. We also use Neem granules in the soil around their roots as this seems to prevent sucking insects from spreading diseases.

pix of Dylan with the chicken is the best! let me know when you start getting into goats, cows... other farm animals... maybe able to help you out :) was great to see you and baby James last weekend! love ya!

hi there! I grew up with chickens and we still have a few hanging around my parents house. they are fantastic and super easy. they're quite interesting to watch too. and fresh eggs can't be beat. happy chickens lay tasty eggs.